Ron Paul Wins 32/40 Delegates in Minnesota

Rep. Ron Paul won a majority of delegates in Minnesota's state convention on Saturday where his supporters captured 12 of the 13 delegate slots.

The strong state convention turnout means that the Republican presidential candidate will receive 32 of the 40 Minnesota delegates for the Republican National Convention in Tampa in August, according to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press.

Paul placed second in Minnesota's February 7 primary, with 27 percent support behind Rick Santorum, who won 45 percent.

Although Team Paul has technically stopped campaigning, he will continue to seek out delegates for the convention. But to what end? Many believe he’s merely trying to influence the party platform heading into the election. That’s possible, I suppose, but as HotAir’s Ed Morrissey recently argued, the retiring Congressman may have more ambitious objectives.

Most people miss the fact that Paul has already achieved his end game, or is within a few weeks of its conclusion. The aim for Paul isn’t the convention, which is a mainly meaningless but entertaining exercise in American politics. The real goal was to seize control of party apparatuses in states that rely on caucuses. With that in hand, Paul’s organization can direct party funds and operations to recruit and support candidates that follow Paul’s platform, and in that way exert some influence on the national Republican Party as well, potentially for years to come. Paul hasn’t won every battle in that fight, but Minnesota will probably end up being more the rule than the exception.

In other words, Ron Paul and his followers are much more focused on electing state and local leaders than pushing their broader platform at the Republican National Convention. After all, Dr. Paul personally sent a letter to the GOP establishment last Monday informing them he’s not looking to cause a ruckus in Tampa.

While a ruckus at the RNC may be avoided in the near term, it remains to be seen what continued and systematic development of grassroots support for the Ron Paul agenda might mean in the 2014 midterm elections, and in 2016.

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